Ozbow

I think it looks really good now. A real purdy full draw shape. I'm liking forward to seeing it finished, especially in person!

Also, if you make your riser lamination from some other timber, spotted gum or such, and make the tip overlays of the same wood of the same thickness, the bow will have a simple sophistication to its look.

Yeoman, thanks for the input. I think I understood that. Essentially you're saying to keep full 19mm depth to the end of the 4" handle, then taper to 15mm halfway into my 4" parallel limb section , then taper to 11 to 12mm at the tips. Is that right? I was thinking I'd glue on an extra se...

Isn't Dacron and B-50 the same thing? For a bow as long as you've made, Indie, I'd recommend a limb about 15 mm thick to start with. You will loose the saw marks near the handle, and will lose up to 3-4 mm at the tips to get circular tiller. Start your 15 mm thickness about 2" out from the flar...

I like it too. But I agree with Bob: it might need some sanding on the inner half to 2/3 of the left limb. Just a bit, then the right could perhaps the the lower limb?

I'm very keen to see how the celery top pine looks with a nice varnish or wax on it.

I would be happy to make/shoot a bow hat has that much lateral deviation. In fact, you're in the unique position of being able to extract a character stave from a board! Much worse than bending is twisting...and you con't seem to have any of that. When I was talking to this vendor, he told me he sou...

The choice of timbers and the overlays make for a lovely looking bow. Well done!

Share a picture or three? If it is a longitudinal split, the fix might be to swill some glue into the crack(s) and clamp them tightly shut.

It's possible that overdrying is the issue, but I somehow doubt it. Before I put it in the oven, I gave the Elm a liberal dose of wax as a resist to be able to peel the excess glue off. This, I think would have helped to seal the moisture in. It was also tightly wrapped with cling film. The oven cyc...

I'm in!

When shall they be due? Dec 24?

Oh, and i meant to add: to its credit, not one iota of the Smooth On EA-40 let the two bits of wood separate. The only way the glue ruptured was to snap right through at one transverse place.

Gotta love that adhesive.

While I was waiting for the glue to dry on the overlays on a bow yesterday, I thought I would knock out another one. I started with a stave of Red Oak. A pyramid bow, 42 mm wide at the center, and just under 1/2 thick. It should have been a doddle. 90 minutes after starting, I did indeed have a shoo...

Have you finished this one yet? It'd be good to get a gander at the double-kerfed tips.

Thanks for the kind words guys. It's nice to diversify and make something other than flatbows and longbows for a change. Yep, the inserts are tapered. This was mainly due to the kerf on my bandsaw blade at the time being only 0.7 mm! So I had to taper the inserts to almost nothing so as not to place...

I have previously tried to make a recurve using a kerf to facilitate the bend in the ends of the limbs. Suffice to say, it was not successful. Not to be swayed, I had another go. I'm glad I did because as it turns out the second time was a charm in this case. The bow is Grey Ironbark, and the lams i...

How wide is that board? You'll definitely need larger diameter poles than what you've found there. 100 mm diameter would be the minimum, I'd say. Perhaps a touch smaller for a 30 lb bow. I have a 30 lb spotted gum bow next to me, and it's only about 25 mm wide at its widest. Better than linen fabric...

There would be no issue in stripping the finish off the belly and tillering back to 50 lb. This will also have the effect of reducing the bending stress, which may mean the chrysals will not return (though no promises). Just treat it once again like a bow that's not yet finished: draw to intended dr...

Fishing scales were what I used first. It was a spring balance style, with a plastic collar that rode the shank of the scale and was pushed by a pin. The effect of this was: you draw the bow to whatever draw length, let it down again, and then read the weight off the scale. very very handy. I curren...

Do you currently do any archery? I couldn't point you out in a crowd of two, so don't know anything about your physique or physical capacity. But 30-40 lb is a realistic starting weight, I think.

Only to save me searching for it every time I want to reference it, really.

http://www.ozbow.net/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=4295

And again: welcome. I'll echo some of the things already said. What grain is important? It really doesn't matter when you're backing with bamboo. Grain orientation and violation are important factors when making a selfbow, or selecting a board to use for backings. When applying a backing of bamboo, ...

For not looking at the bend throughout the tiller, the end result looks absolutely tremendous. Good work!

I got good calluses for picking things up not so good for hitting stuff with an axe for a few hours straight though.

Would they be deadlifting/cleaning blisters, perchance?

Good legwork on the black vs white cypress, and good work persevering though the pain. I've made a mental note to only seek out the darkest cypress samples. I've used the caramel-coloured spotted gum a few times and while it may not be as stiff/elastic (no idea, never tested or noticed), it does mak...

You cut me off at the pass. It does indeed sound like your form may be off.

On the matter of the propeller twist: did you cut and glue the kerfs before or after cutting the width profile?

I think kerfing is the way to go. Can be done at room temperature, doesn't over stress the wood within the curve, and the aesthetic can be made very striking or very subdued.

The Shinto rasp is my favourite wood-removal tool. Right after the bandsaw. :biggrin: That's a nice bow, with good curves. Very well done! I quite like your tillering board too. I've been toying with the idea of doing something similar - a bolt to anchor the string that moves down drilled holes rath...

1" is very respectable for a bow that's still a bit damp.

You might be surprised when making a full-scale bow from it. The wiggly grain may well just stay together.

Perhaps make a bridging bow...68 or 72" long and a mortal draw length/weight, to test it.

I'm glad someone has had a go with it. I tested Rose Gum some time back and have a couple of boards waiting for me to do something with them....but I've got a lot of projects doing just that: waiting. How much set did it take? I've just done some quick calculations: assuming the wood is exactly the ...

Congratulations on getting a bow to full draw! If I might make a suggestion: Suggestion.JPG If the bow is tillered such that the areas bounded by the shabby red lines bends quite a bit more, then you will have a faster shooting, smoother drawing, more evenly stressed bow. To do that to this bow migh...

I think you're right there Nezwin: more bows need to be built from it to explore its potential. I'll do some more bend tests too. I didn't select the samples for sap/heart wood, but I will in future and see if either of them has a beneficial property. I suspect this timber will have a wide range of ...